Beats of Friendship
by Yours truly - Pride
Summary: A Natsu/Laxus broship. No yaoi. Sort-of backstory to "Pride Comes Before a Fall". Do read and review.


**Pride: This story is dedicated to Cardboard Pixie, an amazing friend, confidante and sister-figure who passed away on October the 9th. She dedicated her last moments to writing fanfiction, which she truly loved. I hope her hardwork and dedication is recognized, because she truly deserves it. Thanks for the great memories and times we had, and no matter what, we won't forget you.**

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.<strong>

Narrator's Perspective

'Thoughts'

"Speech_"_

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><p><strong>Beats of Friendship<strong>

A Fairy Tail original fanfiction

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><p>"Gimme my scarf back! Don't touch that scarf! It's special to me!" little Natsu cried out in vain as a young Mirajane Strauss dangled his scaled muffler out of reach of his desperately flailing hands.<p>

When Natsu couldn't reach it, it was all he could do to avoid from bursting into tears on the spot.

"Aww, is 'ickle Tsu-chan crying?" the she-demon cackled evilly, enjoying herself at his expense.

"N-no, I'm not!" he cried out indignantly, turning away from her to gather himself.

"Gramps, I'm taking the mission to escort the mayor of Ayaka district," Laxus waved his mission request in the air as he strolled towards the exit.

"Wait, Laxus," the Master halted him.

"Hmm?"

"Take another person with you. It's not about whether or not you're strong enough. A single person cannot handle an attack from all fronts on the Mayor, even if that person is you."

Laxus grimaced. He never liked working with others; they slowed him down. Besides, it would be a waste of time if he had to go to the trouble of taking a well-paying mission and completing it, only to have to split his reward with someone else.

He looked around, surveying the rest of the guild. Mirajane and Scarlet were out of the question, he'd rather not have another S-Class mage on the mission with him, vying for control and authority over him. That being said…the closest one to him was Natsu. Or Natsu's scarf, to be more specific.

He snatched Natsu's scarf out of Mirajane's hands and proceeded to walk casually out of the guild, leaving the Take-over mage gobsmacked and all riled up.

"Brat, you're coming on this mission with me," Laxus beckoned to the dragon slayer before he strolled out of sight.

Natsu quickly scurried after Laxus, leaving the rest of the guild surprised at the recent turn of events and Mira seething in anger, having had her fun ruined.

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><p>"For real? We're going on an S-Class mission? And no trains this time?!"<p>

"For the umpteenth time, yes Dragneel, we are going on an S-Class mission, but it is only a low-ranking one," Laxus' words that followed 'yes' were completely ignored by the pinkette as he cheered and did a little impromptu jig along the way. And he cringed a little at the mention of trains. Nope, no trains, thank you very much. He had to make sure that secrets stayed buried, after all.

Natsu halted in his steps though, his face taking on a more puzzled look.

"Laxus, what does 'umping' mean?"

"It's 'umpteenth'. And it means you should stop asking me so many questions before I drag you back to Mirajane and perhaps Scarlet."

Natsu shuddered. And he suddenly found the discipline to remain quiet for the rest of the trip.

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><p>Natsu was still fired up, even long after the mission had been completed and the reward collected. He had witnessed Laxus' lightning magic firsthand, and in his opinion, it was the coolest magic anyone in the guild had ever used. Well, aside from his own, of course.<p>

"Can you teach me lightning magic when we get back to the guild?" asked Natsu excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Maybe."

"COOL! Then I can help you on more missions, and use lightning magic like you! Then I'll beat Erza and Mira and become S-Class and then we can take harder missions! And we can call ourselves the 'Thunder Gods'!" Natsu ranted on, obviously not minding that his companion was acting completely oblivious to whatever he said.

Laxus snorted. 'Thunder Gods'? Honestly, he preferred something like 'Thunder God Tribe' more. Didn't matter anyways.

Laxus eyed Natsu's 'travelling equipment' which just comprised a bundle tied at the end of a pole. This boy, he really needed to adapt better to human civilization. Realising that he would never adapt if left to his own devices, Laxus dragged him into a large one-stop store to buy him a bag or a suitcase to carry his necessities.

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><p>They walked out of the store, Natsu with his new backpack and sleeping bag slung over his shoulders, and Laxus looked proud of himself.<p>

"Hey Laxus, since you bought me this bag with your own share of the reward money, I got you something too!" Natsu handed Laxus a box with the picture of a pair of lacrima headphones on the cover.

The lightning mage was pleasantly shocked to receive his gift. He hadn't taken the brat to be the type who went to such lengths to make others feel appreciated. These headphones must've cost him a fortune! It was the latest technology, of course it must have burnt a hole in the boy's pocket.

"H-how?"

"What d'you mean, how? I asked the lady in the store what I could buy as a gift for you, and she suggested a few things. I liked this one best, since it'll make you look cooler!" the pinkette grinned up at his newfound friend.

A smile broke out over Laxus' face as he ruffled Natsu's unruly pink hair.

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><p>Laxus held his headphones up to his ears, and let out a heavy sigh. It pained him to hear nothing from the old, worn out pair of headphones that had faithfully served him for the last five years. He longed to hear the reassuring beat of the alternative rock he loved. He wanted so badly to feel as though his best friend was still there with him, that everything was still the same and that nothing had changed one bit since then.<p>

Another part of him demanded that he dump the old, useless memento in a trashcan somewhere or better still, destroy it completely. After all, if he wanted to become the strongest, he couldn't let a petty weakness like friendship weigh him down. After all, the weak had no place in this world.

But looking at the fire dragon slayer, he felt as though there was no such thing as being 'weak', precisely because of the fact that everyone had a weakness. But what really mattered in this world was not how you viewed things, but how others viewed it. And if most of the world saw it as an unforgiving death-pit that only spared the powerful, he had no choice but to submit to it.

He let the headphones hang from his neck as he removed his hands from around it.

Well, he supposed there was no harm in continuing to use it, even if it didn't work anymore. It did make him look cool, after all, and he had an image to maintain.

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><p>Natsu stared up at Laxus who was leaning against the railings of the balcony.<p>

'Dumbass lightning rod…why can't you just admit that you miss all of us at Fairy Tail? I can see it in your eyes and gestures…'

'Someday, you'll end up wishing you'd spent all these days alongside the rest of Fairy Tail instead of seeking power for the sake of it. After all, power isn't worth having if you have nothing you need to protect.'

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><p><em>End<em>

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><p><strong>Pride: Hope you enjoyed this, it's sort-of a backstory to Pride Comes Before a Fall. Short, disjointed, but I hope you liked this anyways. <strong>

**May good fortune rule over you  
>Peace live in your heart, and<br>May the stars watch over you**

**- Yours truly, Pride**


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